Butterfly Birthday Dress

This dress has been on my radar ever since May when I saw Sanae's beautiful version for Kids Clothes Belgian Style.  When I had the chance to buy some butterfly fabric of my very own, I snapped it up (well, a yard of it, anyway).

I used my own pattern for an A-line dress.  The previous dress is too large and gapes at the armholes so I shaved seam allowances off.  I am clearly a terrible cutter because this one only just fits.  Note for next time: stick to the pattern!  I also used my collar-drafting experience from the upcycling/knock-off disaster.  First, I used the collar from the torn dress, but it wasn't fitting around the circle of the neckline so I re-drafted a new one.  Having previous experience was helpful and made it go much faster.  Faster too was the fact that I was sandwiching the collar in between the bodice and a lining/facing, instead of attaching with bias binding.  I made a bodice lining in a pale blue from my stash of mens shirts.

My process (should have been):
1. Sew shoulder seams on bodice and lining
2. Sew bodice to lining at neckline and armholes, including collar.  Leave opening at back seam to sew lining/facing down over fastening.
3. Pull right side out through shoulder spaces.
4. Sew side seams together: Pull lining/facing up, away from bodice and sew one seam through facing, continuing on to bodice.  (Lining is right side together, bodice is right side together.  Do not sew bodice right side with lining on top, wrong side; as I did)
5. Sew back seam, incorporating fastening.  Fasten facing over, depending on fastening method.
6. Hem.

I tried my first invisible zip and, if I do say so myself, it went very well.  I splashed out and got myself a specialist zip foot and it made a huge difference.  I chose a cream 9" zip but I guess I should have gone for ivory because it came out very beige/flesh coloured.  I'll also remember to go for a much larger zip than I think I need because there is a lot of waste at both the top and the bottom of the invisible method.  9 inches of zip gives me about 7 inches of opening.

I did such a terrible job of lining up the lining with the bodice and forgetting to leave an opening at the neckline that I was left with a very scratchy and extremely ugly zip on the inside.

I went back and attached some bias binding to each side of the zip and now it shouldn't be uncomfortable to wear, plus it looks much better (even if I didn't match my thread colour until the last quarter of stitching).  Luckily I had some light blue binding left over from my first Sorbetto.

I knew I should hand-finish the hem but I expect it is only going to fit her for about 5 minutes so an hour of hand sewing vs five minutes of machining?  Guess which I did?

Hopefully she likes it and hopefully it fits.  Action shots of the recipient wearing it will have to wait until after her birthday at the end of this month...

Total cost: £9.02 (£22.02 inc new tools)

 Fabric: £6.77
  Fashion: £6.77 inc postage
  Lining: upcycle
  Collar: stash
 
Notions:
 Zip:  £2.25
 Bias binding: stash/upcycle

Thread: stash

New tools:
  Zip foot: £13.00